Awaken Hope with CC Robinson on Caged in Divided Series

0:00Are you tired of feeling hopeless? Or do you feel as though you carry around an invisible ball and chain? If so, you are in the right place. It's time now for a wicked hope with Candy Campbell. Candy is a therapist and grief counselor that works with women to help them process and heal from emotional events that can keep them feeling stuck. Let's take this journey together. And now, here's your host, Candy Campbell. Welcome back. I have a fabulous guest here with me today. And today, we are talking with C.C. Robinson. And C.C. has, we're going to talk about her second book. She has a series of books. But C.C. over the past two decades, she has experience in cross cultural setting as a medical doctor working in post-civil war nations. And as an associate pastor at a multi-ethnic congregation

1:01led by an African-American man in Cincinnati, the setting for divided when she's not throwing on her superhero cape to save her characters from their dystopian antics. C.C. enjoys hiking, gardening, dancing, swimming, and driving her Jeep through the woods with her husband and three kids. Welcome, C.C. I am so super excited to talk to you about your book Caged, which is book number two in your divided series. Hi, Candy, yes, and thank you. Hello to all the listeners. Such an honor and a privilege to be here today. Yes, Caged is the second book in the divided series, which is a young adult dystopian series, which will be four books in total and will be complete in 2026. Oh, coming up. Yes, we'll have to have you again when it is all published and out for, you know,

2:03promotion, marketing. So tell me, what is it that interested you in doing a young adult dystopian topic? That's very interesting. Yes, well, aside from the fact that I loved hunger games and divergent and all those sort of like 20 ought, young adult dystopian books myself. I fell in love with the genre, but I feel like it's the perfect vehicle to really explore social issues. And in 2012, I had like this all night dream where I saw our nation, America, American, divided in civil war over racial issues. And I was part of it. It was awful. It was horrible. It was terrifying to be part of a civil war. And then like I woke up just terrified and sweating and praying and like, oh my gosh, like feeling like it's gonna happen right now. Like it may even be happening right now.

3:04And then I somehow made it back to sleep and fast-forwarded in the dream to 45 years after a dictator had taken power and divided us into our ethnic areas and put up walls between us so that we were no longer able to even meet or interact with someone from another ethnicity. For our own good, I'm making quotation marks for the listeners because we really know it wasn't for our own good, right? It's to control us. And in that dream, I met my four protagonists and they just pled with me for us. And I was like, oh, okay, I guess I'm writing. So it's just, you know, not being a fiction writer. I had to do a lot of research and really landed on young adult dystopian as like that perfect genre to be the vehicle for this message of, we have to avoid the Civil War. We have to learn to work together. You know, it's interesting the topic that you're talking about. And yes, I am going now. I am gonna say this. It is a little bit, I don't know what's the word

4:09that's coming to my mind. What's happening in our world is making me look at this and go, oh my gosh, did you see something like a premonition way back then? Because some of the events that are occurring are making you think twice about what's happening. And it's interesting you say that. Cause back in 2012, you know, people, I actually heard this on a news report, oh, we're in a post-racial America because we elected a black president. I almost fell out of my chair laughing because I mean, I looked around and I was like, where are they? What world are they seeing? Cause I don't see this. This is not what I see. I see a lot of anger still in hatred and just a lot of misunderstanding and biases on all sides. And I'm just like, we just, we don't know how to talk. We don't know how to work together. We don't know how to manage the fact that we believe different things, we think different things. And that's part of the beauty of this nation. We've lost that ability somehow. And so you fast forward 13 years, we need this even more.

5:12But my husband, during the pandemic, he said, you have got to get this book out. You have got to get this out. And so that's when I was, I actually started writing more in earnest. You think I had time during the pandemic? I did not. I had zero time. We, as a pastor, like everyone's life was blowing up with this little thing called a pandemic. And so like pastors were some of the busiest people on the face of the earth and lots of needs and people were out of work. And I mean, it was just a really trying time. Right. But I'm writing more during that time than I think I'd written up to that date. And just feeling like I've got to get this out. And even the next two books coming out next year is that same like fervor of we need to have a conversation around these issues. Otherwise, we're going to end up in my civil war. And I don't want that. No, I get that. We do. It's about raising awareness. And we can't go in. I truly believe we can't just go in with blinders on and just accept everything that's unfolding.

6:14You have to ask. You have to, I mean, if you want to bury your head, which I do know some people do. Oh, yeah. I mean, there's lots of people that bury their heads. But if you want to be, if you want awareness and you want to have a say in what happens around you, you have to be willing to step outside of yourself out of that safe zone and say, no, what's going on? You know, I, I like divergent. And yeah, I've read, you know, I've watched all those movies. So it took me a while. I had to rewatch a couple times to get used to them. I was like, that's interesting. But the more I watched, I was like, okay, hunger games. The thing was I made a comment. I'm like, you know, this is interesting because this is, I'm not saying that it could happen. But somewhere in the future, something like this could unfold. And I'm like, wow. So your, the crux of your book came out during the pandemic,

7:17which as we all know, definitely created a lot of angst and tension and it changed our world forever. And people really didn't want to read something that was down like that. They wanted to read something inspiring. That's why in all of my books, I weave through hope and courage like these threads and survival. So I will never say you have a happy ending because it is dystopian. But it's a satisfying conclusion at the end of every book. And I want to not provide a roadmap so much as this plant, this idea and young people's minds, especially that no matter how dark it looks, if you have light within yourself, there's light in the world. So like, don't let that hope die. Keep that hope alive and then advocate for a different future, different look to the future. Yeah, because it is truly going to be that future generation. I mean, not that we can't make an impact we can,

8:19but I think the younger generation are the ones that are going to be impacted even greater than what we currently are right now. Yeah, we're going to take a short break. We'll be right back. And then we will continue this conversation. Stay tuned. If your stomach sounds like a haunted house and your bathroom trips require a prayer, we need to talk. You, my friend, might be digestively doomed. Floated like a parade balloon, constipated and clenching your belly like a toddler who's lost their mom at Walmart. Where are you sprinting to the bathroom so often that your toilet seat has started a long distance relationship with your butt. Good news. You don't have to suffer in silent smelly agony. Ignoring digestive problems doesn't just stink. Literally, it makes you sluggish, cranky, and desperate for stretchy pants. But to be serious for a second, it could lead to major issues, even disease. A happy gut means a healthy body that generates more energy, has higher metabolism, better focus, and the confidence to wear real jeans again.

9:22Ready to go from bathroom hostage to digestive freedom? Download crappy to happy guts. For simple ways to supercharge your digestion at happyguts.info. Now, your gut is calling, and no, it is not a butt dial. Go to happyguts.info. Now, welcome back. Again, I have C.C. Robinson here. And we are talking about her books. And she has that are coming out in 2026. So stay tuned. We will definitely be detailing those and giving you more information as they unfold. But today, we're talking about her second book and the divided series called Caged. And without giving away too much of a book, because we do want people to buy them. First of all, let's go, let's share. How can they go acquire the books for people that love to read and like these types of books? I mean, they're always available on Amazon. But I'm very well aware that the younger generations, especially like paperback.

10:23And so the paperbacks are available anywhere you buy paperbacks online. And that is worldwide. So if you buy your paperbacks at Barnes and Noble or at bookshop.org, you can find them there. They're really everywhere. They are also available at in-person events that I'm at. So that's a little harder maybe to grab me. But if you grab me there, I will sign it for you. Which is always fun. The e-books for the novels are unfortunately exclusive to Amazon right now. OK, so they're in the Kindle Unlimited. Kindle Unlimited. We'll make sure everything's in the show notes. But just for curiosity, say, do you have any upcoming book signings that you're going to be hosting in the coming year? I will definitely be. There's two different places in Ohio. I'm going to be in very far northeast Ohio

11:24as part of Book Bash 2026. And this will all be on my website as well. I always put the in-person events on my website. And then I will be in Akron, Ohio, for another book signing in May. And no, sorry, April. That's in April. So it's going to be a busy summer season. I've got other events that I've applied to that haven't yet heard from. It's a little early. And then I will definitely be, I was just in Las Vegas at Reader Nation just a week and a half ago. And that was a magnificent signing event. And there were over 200 authors there, one of the largest, yeah, one of the largest independent author conferences. And so that was a ton of fun. I met readers. I even had a reader come up and show me my books in the Las Vegas library. So all my ebooks are available for public libraries. So that's the other thing. If you don't want to go to the zone,

12:24and you still want a new book, go to your library and request them. And you know, and that's great. Libraries are, I love libraries. I mean, you can go. And I would go spend hours in a library just sitting and reading. I love to sit. Reading is such a lovely habit to have. And I say that because you can get lost in a book. And you use your imagination. Granted, you're using the writer's imagination. But if I'm a type of reader that when I'm whatever I'm reading, I can kind of visualize that. And just, I mean, I have to really watch myself because I'll get a good book. And I lose track of time. There was one time saying that all day long. And my husband goes, are you going to get off the couch? I mean, this was several years ago. But I'm like, yeah, I'm almost done. He's like, OK, see you've been on that book all day.

13:25And I'm like, it's such a good book. It's a good book. I'm the same as you, Candy, because as a kid, the library really kept me out of so much trouble. It was my like sanctuary in the summer. And I always say that even with writing, writing is a partnership with the reader. Because if we sketch as a writer, if we sketch out the scene too carefully, it feels like as a reader that you're being controlled and pigeonholed into this one way of viewing it. But it's like a blank coloring page in a lot of ways. We have this sketch, and then your imagination is filling in those details. Right. OK, so I'm excited. This is going to be really neat. And I know we have a society where reading is kind of gone by the wayside, at least in book form. But I really encourage you, if you love to read, go get the books. There's something about having a book in your hand

14:28and turning the pages. And just I'm one that I read books and I highlight things, not so much the books that I like to read that are fun, but like text books or sometimes even books. I'll just highlight stuff that I want to remember or something stood out to me on that page. So I have like these posts that know it's all over the place and highlighters with me. I carry them with me when I'm reading a book. I really encourage you, if you love that type of theme, go get Cease's book and read it and enrich your mind and know this that you will always. And I say this from from my heart, you will always gain something from reading a book. You can never, you can get, you begin to use your imagination. You begin to connect with the author. You begin to just disappear into a different type of reality. And you know, if you're like me, you can get trot,

15:29lose track of time when you sit down and read a good book. Sometimes if you can't read a book and you like to still read, you can always get them on audio. Audio books are good. You can listen to them with your earbuds or your AirPods or however you choose to listen to books and they'll engage. You know, I like to go out and sometimes I'll walk my dogs and listen to books, audio books. You can't really read a book and pay attention to the dogs, but I can listen. That's hard, yes. So, okay, so you like that type of theme. I find it interesting. I mean, truly, the dystopian really, really intriguing in my mind that you went, now I say went that way, but chose to write with that type of theme because it is something that kind of makes you question things. Or at least I believe it would and make you question things and make you kind of go, is this something that really, really could happen?

16:31And I can't just get to it. That's how the dystopian genre has been all throughout our history of the genre. You know, you go back to even like Parable the Sower, which was written in like I think the 1960s or 1984, a brave new world, even Lord of the Flies. These are all dystopian classic and they're kind of bleak on the backside, right? But I think what dystopian as a genre allows you to do is present a picture of what it will look like if we don't address some social ill, some societal issue. And if we don't get it solved and move on, then this is where we're gonna be. And it's that picture that I wanted to paint and some people like, it's a little too on the nose. I'm like on purpose, it's a little on the nose on purpose because we mean it on the nose because we're not figuring it out otherwise. If we, if we as a society were having great conversations in the public space around these issues,

17:32I would be like, you don't need my books. I'll go right, I don't know hockey romance, but you need my books, you need my books. And books change minds. That's what I've seen books do. I have seen books affect the way people see the world. That is their power. Mm-hmm, you're right. And we do need to ask that question, those questions, we need to, I remember reading 1984 and George Orwell and Lord of the Flies. I mean, that was very, those were, one place in high school. Those were books that you just kind of went. Wow, they were eye-opening. Even though they were at that time, very, they felt so far off. There's like, no, they said feel realistic. But you know, when you look at books like that and you look at the dystopian theme, you think. How far, they weren't that far off. They had, they saw something way back when when they created those books.

18:32Yeah, I mean, just the fact that we walk around with computers in our pockets. And if we don't turn off settings, there's someone listening to us all the time. It may be Siri now, but like, I mean, we're really big, big brother. That time has actually passed. You know, as surveillance technology has gotten better, like you, you're never alone. You know, if you have your phone with you, you always have someone with you. And so, I mean, we are there. Now, it's maybe not the same picture of being there. Right. But it's the same structure of being there. And then what do we, how do we fit into that structure as a humanity? How do we deal with, interact with that technology as people? That's the difference now. But it's the same thing I'm saying is like, okay, we have a diverse society. If we don't change the way we're interacting around this space, we're going to lose it. Wow. Very eye-opening, truly very eye-opening.

19:33You know, something that just popped into my head while you were talking about that. I remember I was on a flight one time and, you know, how on some flights they have TV shows, or at least on United, you can watch movies and stuff. And most planes too. But I remember watching, I believe it was called Civil War. It was a movie about, and the Civil War. Literally creating, you were talking about the division, you were in this book, in your book, the division that it created. And this movie kind of patterned the same way. The States, you had the Southern States that were divided from the Northern States and then the Western States. And I remember thinking, oh my goodness. Wow, this is a little too surreal in my brain. I was like, and but then you look at what's happening in this world. And I'm like, oh, wow, that makes you think or at least it does me.

20:34I'm like, hmm. Yeah, yeah. And all you really have to do to see is go on social media. It's just, it's rampant, it's everywhere. So yes, I hear you and that would be a terrifying movie for me to watch. I don't think I've ever seen it. I don't know that I will, but my brain can generate all the pictures that needs to generate right now. Yeah, no, my husband had watched it. And he's like, oh, we saw this. And so I was on a fly and I decided to check it out. And I was like, yeah, hmm. Okay. And it was just like, I mean, I fell asleep through part of it, but that's how I was disengaged. I wanted to be in that. It wasn't that it was a little too, too real for me. Yeah, yeah. And I was like, no, I think I'm going to go to take I'm going to take a little sleep. I will say in my books being set 45 years in the future, it, the dystopian government is already there. You're already under it. And so in the prequel, which I always give for readers

21:35for free, if they go on my website and say, oh, that, you know, all that just, you see the Civil War, but then with the main books, it's really the aftermath. It's the government is stable and people are comfortable. That's what's so scary is that people are comfortable being divided. And you think about that, like you're just surrounded by people that are like you on the outside. But then what that produces is this hyper awareness of differences that are other different. Like it is a politics, is it the way you view sports? Is it the way you, you know, what you want to do versus what the government wants you to do for your income? Who do you want? Who do you want to marry? Who your family wants you to marry? Those, those differences end up getting magnified because you've taken away racial differences. But my point and the whole thing is, we are always going to have differences. It's just a matter of what. And if we don't learn to figure it out, but I love my characters. I guess I created them, but I also love them.

22:37They're like my kids now, right? They just don't give up. You know, Marcos ends up in a labor camp after figuring his way out of the city, which no one's ever done before. So crazy brave kid. And he ends up in a labor camp and he just thinks, well, that's pretty the labor camp. So like you take a teenager from now and you put them in an impossible situation and maybe they do the same thing. Now I just wonder like, are we not, as we as I'm a Gen X, are we not trusting Gen Z enough in this? Like maybe like I was the Benetan generation, right? Like we were the ones who were going to create the corporate world that was diverse. And we did, we did it. Yes. I say yes. But you know, I think even more than Gen X or Gen Z really wants that. They really want to see a world where there's more discourse in a civil manner. Mm. That's a, that's very eye opening to think about that. And I mean, I, I too image generation X.

23:39And I'm like, I look at things and I'm like, you know, it's interesting the way people see things. And I really do believe that the younger generation and not an older generation as well, our generation can, would love these types of bugs, even though it's young adults. I mean, it doesn't matter. It's a, it's a themed and people love themes. So well, we're going to take a short break. We'll be back. And then we're going to finish out this conversation. Stay tuned. Imagine crossing two oceans and discovering not just a destination, but a home. That's what I found at El Tosoro, a family run farm to table retreat at the Cross Road to Tuscany, Lazio, and Embria. Oce Rida and Massimo welcomes me just like family. I harvested olives, savered fresh pressed extra virgin olive oil and took a cooking class in their restaurant kitchen. I'm still making that eggplant recipe back at home. Beyond the food, Rida guided us through Italy's rich history,

24:43intricate flower mosaics crafted by local artists, a wine tasting overlooking the lush green hills of Embria, and a meal in Chavita di Bani Reggio, an ancient village we had to cross a footbridge to get to. El Tosoro isn't just a place to stay, it's a place to gather, celebrate, and reconnect. Whether you're seeking a peaceful yogurt treat, a dream wedding, or a meaningful family reunion, El Tosoro makes every moment magical. If you're dreaming of an authentic Italian escape, then you need to follow at El Tosoro underscore Italy on Instagram. That's I-L-T-E-S-O-R-O underscore Italy. Come home to El Tosoro. Again, I have C.C. Robinson here, and we are talking about her second book, in the K, in the divided series called Caged. I want to talk to you. I would love you to share a little bit more

25:43about one of your characters, Rose. Tell us a little about Rose and when inspires you, because I know, you know, over the break, we were talking about generations, the generations, and each of us, all the generations are different, and you made an interesting comment, which I found, it opened my eye, that Gen Z are kind of a, I'll let you use your words on that. I don't want to bunch it. Yeah, I see a resiliency in the generation. It may not be fully realized yet, but they had to figure things out during a pandemic, and high school for my kids was broken during the pandemic, it was just awful. I mean, even college, to a certain extent, in taking that same resiliency into Rose. So all four books, I write from all four different points of view. So you get a full view of the world, not just one point of view, which I think is very important, and is a life lesson in general.

26:43We'll get back to that, put a pin in that. But Rose is a, my female scientist, and she is a genius. She's one of those kids that skipped like four grades. You know those? Yeah. So my daughter has a friend who did that, and you know, in math, and she is a math and physics genius, but she is clueless when it comes to relationships. Needless to say, you know, she is, I love her so much, and she is, I would say, if she were diagnosed today, she'd probably be on the autism spectrum. She just has a touch issue, and some texture issues, like with foods and fabrics, but I think she's probably on the autism spectrum, but she just will not give up with the questions. So she's in this training program for elite physicists, sponsored by the regime, the big bad enemies, right? And she just keeps poking and poking and poking at this question and this technology, until she alerts them that maybe they wonder,

27:45has she figured something out that she shouldn't have figured out, that they don't want her to know? And so a villain, we'll just call him a villain. There are many villains in the dystopian realm, but this is one of the villains. Kidnaps her in order to figure out what she knows, as she is getting very dangerously close to his own plot. And while she's in captivity, she's tortured, but she's really funny about it. She's just like, is this the best you got? You know, so she's, it's a resilient kind of bearing through the torture. And he lets the villain let slip something. And she puts out all those things together. She's a puzzler, a puzzle maker, and she gets to this place where it understanding drops and she realizes she has to get out or millions of people are going to die. So that is the problem that she's faced with, and she does some pretty heroic stuff to get out. She has a little bit of assistance,

28:45but she definitely has a lot of her own pluck and dogged determination. We'll put it that way. To get out of this situation, get free, and then take her enemies down. Wow. So that is Book Two Cage. Wow. Okay. You know, I like those types of characters. They're inquisitive. They're, they're very, and like you said, that she's got that dogged determination to just keep on going. And she knows if she doesn't get out, she's, there's going to be dire consequences. Absolutely. This is one area where being stubborn is not a bad thing. You have to, you have to have that determination to keep on going. And no matter what life throws at you, no matter what you're surrounded with to say, not just accept it for as is. Just say no. You know, I don't accept that. You don't have to verbalize it, but in your mind,

29:45you can say, I don't accept that. I'm going to keep on going. And I'm going to keep on. It's kind of like what popped into my head was like tunneling through something and you just keep keep on tunneling. You know, you keep seeing dirt everywhere you go. There's more and more dirt. But if you keep tunneling, you will eventually get somewhere. You'll find some light that'll show it. It will shine in to show you that you're close to the exit or close to getting out. Wow. I love that. I highly, highly, highly, highly recommend for people that love to read even if you don't enjoy reading. Get it on audio. Awaken your hope. Awaken your senses and your ability to transform your imagination through DC's writing. She's got four books. And this is the second book. The other two are coming out in 2026. So we will stay tuned.

30:45We will have definitely have her on the show for more debuts of her books as they, you know, are released. And I just really, I can't stress that enough. Books are, it's kind of like, it's precious. And like she said, they open your mind. They create, you can create a whole connection with the author, if you're the author, with the writer, with the, I mean, the reader. And, you know, that was one of the things that I really love about books is you can kind of lose yourself the pages of the book, kind of like the stories like Alison Wonderland. I'm going back to how she just kind of folds into the story, you know, and dives and meets all the characters and stuff. And you can do that too. And you can begin to learn from people, even if it's just a character, learn to have that doggy determination

31:46to question things, to not give up and not just take things for face value. If you take anything away from the books, I would say is just keep asking questions. Don't say, don't just take whatever answer they're giving you because that's what you need to know. Because it's some oftentimes I've learned when we ask, and you can ask different questions, when you ask more questions, ultimately end up getting the answer you need. Sometimes it's given to us just to keep us quiet, to stop, you know, stop people from asking questions. But I don't know. I'm one that always asks questions. I'm always thinking about this. How would this look? You know, but that's me. And I am very, I'm a very determined person. So I have loved having you on the show. CC, I look forward to having your other two books as they debut. And I look forward to having you in the, come on the show and share your amazing insight

32:46and your amazing ability to write dystopian books that will engage each and every reader. Thank you so much for having me. Candy, this has been. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, before we conclude, any final words you want to say to the readers? Yes. So you can sample my writing, see if it fits for you. If you go to my website, it'll be in the show notes, but CC Robinson author.com forward slash awaken hope, all one word, smash them together, no space, and you will be able to download a pebble, which is how we got into the mess. It's a civil war that gets us into the mess. It's a short read. You can promise you, it's like a one night read. And you can get a sample, a taste of my writing and meet two of my absolute favorite characters who reappear in the divided series as the elder states,

33:47men and women. So Moses and Julie appear in the divided series as the mentors to our heroes. And so they're... Wow. Well, I really highly recommend that you go out and you check out the books. Like I said, like she said, they're on Amazon. You can get it on Audible. You can, you know, and stay tuned for the new books that are coming out in 2026, which is literally just around the corner. Yeah. And keep reading, keep in, keep enriching your mind, and keep asking those questions, blindly, bare your head, and just say, okay, whatever you're being told is truth. Because the truth is, there's an element of it not being all true. Sometimes you, if you ask the right questions, and you keep on asking, you learn so much more. And you will enrich your mind, and you will always raise your awareness

34:48and have something that'll keep you and hold on to in that element of hope. Because if, if you don't have hope, you have apathy, and apathy leads you nowhere good. So, ladies and gentlemen, thank you. Thank you again, CC. I have truly enjoyed having this conversation with you. I am grateful for each and every one of you. Continue to read. Go, go get the taste. Go taste it. You know, experience her book. We will make sure everything in this is in the show notes. And you can download this episode. You know, if you miss the actual airing event, it's okay. It can be downloaded. We'll always be there. All the information you need to know about CC Robinson and her book, Paged, which is book two-and-a-divided series, will be there. And you can lose your imagination in a book.

35:48And learn something that maybe you hadn't thought about before this conversation. Ladies and gentlemen, this resonates, care it. And if someone's coming into your mind, there's a reason why they're coming into your mind. They need to know about this. I mean, we have a whole generation of young people and adults that need to always, always, always question things and raise awareness. Because that is what's going to help you become the better version of you and not just take things for face value that, oh, it's supposed to be this way. Well, maybe not. Everything you should always ask a question. And if someone denies you the ability to ask a question, then ask another question. Why are you stopping me? Your imagination in your mind are always going to help you. At least when it comes to books and when it becomes to erasing awareness. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Take care of yourself. And we will talk with you super soon.

36:48Thanks for listening to Awakened Hope with Candy Campbell. If you find yourself struggling, just know there is help. Please take the first step in contact Candy. To learn more, go to candycamble.net. If you like our show, please tell your friends and family to listen. Join us again next time for Awakened Hope with Candy Campbell. You